Kuala Lumpur: Outgoing Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat yesterday emphasised the importance of judicial leaders maintaining courage and staying steadfast in their pursuit of justice.
She said that as a leader of the judiciary, one must always remember that the judiciary is the gateway to progress and the judiciary is the benchmark for people to judge the nation and the community.
“If you are a leader in the judiciary, I think you have to be brave to do what you think is right and remain steadfast to pursue that.
“It’s very easy to talk or speak about judicial independence, but that principle must be translated in your actions. Must be translated in the judgments. As a leader of the judiciary, remember this: the judiciary is the gateway to progress,” said the top judge at a programme “Live to Lead: The Chief Justice’s Journey”, which was held at Universiti Malaya, here yesterday.
When commenting on the accusations or allegations that she is facing as Malaysia’s first female chief justice, Tengku Maimun clarified that the challenges were not related to gender, but rather stemmed from a lack of understanding of her position and decisions.
When asked to name a pivotal case in her career, Tengku Maimun highlighted the case of a kindergarten teacher, M. Indira Gandhi.
She made it clear that the case has nothing to do with principles of Islam as the case was involving a civil law as Indira and her ex-husband K. Pathmanathan, also known by his Muslim name Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, were a Hindu and their marriage was registered under civil law.
“When you contracted a civil marriage, whatever issues arising out of that civil marriage would have, would have to be sorted out in the civil court. That’s clear principles. No quarrel about that,” she said adding that, she has been criticised as if she was not protecting Islam.
Tengku Maimun is set to retire in July this year, as she reaches the age of 66, the mandatory retirement age for judges, unless her tenure is extended by six months.
